Malaysia and the Club of Doom: The Collapse of the Islamic Countries 9789834261917

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MALAYSIA AND THE CLUBOFDOOM The Collapse of The lslamic Countries

Syed Akbar Ali

Kuala Lumpur 2006

TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

©Copyright 2006 SYED AKBAR ALi

INTRODUCTION All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprod uced,stored,or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or otherwise, including photocopying, recording, Internet, or any storage and retrieval system without prior written permission from The Publisher.

Published by:

SYED AKBAR All

CHAPTER

1

THE FAILED STAT ES

CHAPTER

2

PAKISTAN -A FAILED STAT E?

31

CHAPTER

3

CAN MALAYSIA BECOME A FAILED STATE?

41

CHAPTER

4

MUSLIM VIOLENCE IS SO PREDICTABLE

63

CHAPTER

5

DENIAL - THE F UEL OF FALSEHOOD

85

CHAPTER

6

THROWING UP NEW HAT REDS AGAINST NON MUSLIMS

Tingkat l,4213E,Jalan Kebun Sultan 15300 Kota Bharu Kelantan. MALAYSIA

Prin\ed by:

CHAPTER

7

No. 38,Jalan Kampung Pasir MALAYSIA

THE HAT RED OF DOGS

141

DEDICATION

151 155

8

FAILURE WRIT T EN IN STONE

CHAPTER

9

SOME ADVICE TO THE LEADERS AND POLITICIANS

183 193

CHAPTER

10

THE UMMAH IS LAWLESS

CHAPTER

11

FALSELY ACCUSING THE QURAN :

CHAPTER

12

109

AND HOUSE LIZARDS

CHAPTER

THIRUMAGAL PRINTERS SDN. BHD. Off Jalan Klang Lama, 58200 Kuala Lumpur

V

A CLASH OF F OOLS

215

DOOM, DOOM AND MORE DOOM

237

INTRODUCTION ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This is the second book published in my name since 1 wrote'To Digress A

Little' in J uly 2005.1 do not know if two books make a writer but two books

A great amount of gratitude is due to the many friends,associates and many other people who have provided much of the ideas, information and anecdotes which have all become part of this book. 1 owe a great deal to the Internet which has become

are certainly insufficient to address the worries and concerns that 1 still have about our country Malaysia and also about the larger group of

nations often known as the 'lslamic' countries1• The lslamic countries have certainly collapsed - economically, politically

and even socially. In this book 1 have reproduced or referred to media reports, books, research findings and speeches by lslamic leaders which

clearly proves the same. And for those who would deny that the lslamic

the bahara ulum or ocean of knowledge and to my

countries are collapsing 1 have dedicated a whole chapter to the deniers.

like Nadia in New York, Dr S Ahmed also in the US,

with all my heart that the deen or way of life of Islam shall always prevail.

numerous friends 1 have met through the Internet Madam Kirn from Korea ,.. an Arabic linguist and researcher in 'illogical religions' - plus many others who have been a goldmine of information and

But the fact is Islam cannot collapse.As a fundamentalist Muslim 1 believe

As a fundamentalist Muslim 1 believe so because this is what God and the Messenger have told me in the Quran. And 1 am obliged to believe and

obey God and His Messenger in the Quran. Therefore what is collapsing around us is certainly not Islam. In this regard to say that all the lslamic

education for me.

countries are upholding the true tenets of Islam is 1 think presumptuous2•

Many thanks are due to Mohana Kumar - a lawyer,

Malaysia has a Muslim3 majority population which

brother and aga in a Muslim who read my

Government through the simple effect of the ballot. Malaysia does hold

manuscript and again gave me a timely reminder of my obligations to the Quran. The cover for the book was designed by Haji Mohamed Ali and his graphics designers. Many thanks Haji. My dear wife Zeenath Begum read the draft and provided

suggestions while my sons and my

daughter - the hext generation - were a constant source of inspiration. ThankYou.

controls the

the record now as the only Muslim majority country in the world which 'lslamic countries': So as not to lose the reader 1 have no choice but to use the term 'lslamic countries'. 1 hope God will forgive me for this generalisation because He

Alone will decide just who has been lslamic and who has not. The proper term should be 'countries that ape the Arabic culture' but !hat is a mouthful and may also lose the reader completely. Presumptuous: assuming things, to do something when you do not have a rignt to do it Muslims: again so as not to lose the reader 1 use the term 'Muslims' very loosely in a generic sense to include the people who profess and practice the various madhabs or sects !hat are found today in Malaysia and all over the lslamic world like the Sunnis comprising the Syafie, Hanafi, Maliki and Hanbali sects, as weil as others like the Syiah, Qadiani, Wahhabi, Naqshabandi, lsmaili, Ahmadiya and whoever eise who generally recognize themselves under the generic term 'Muslims'. May God forgive me for this generalization too because He Alone knows who is a Muslim and who is not.

V

Malaysia and Ibe Club ofDoom

Introduction

has sustained a continuous record of democratic elections since 1955.

Jones and the Temple of Doom'. In that movie Harrison Ford as Indiana

reasons are the great good fortune of Malaysia having inherited a

bizarre4 and senseless religion. In the movie, the temple was doomed.

There are a few factors responsible for this - among which the chief

workable system of government and administration from the British colonials plus the presence of an almost equal number of non Muslim population in the country which has always demanded a careful balancing act in managing the country.

Jones st.umbles upon this temple cult who are involved in the most But 1 decided to use the word 'club' instead of 'temple' to connect with

the 'Club of Rome'. This is an exclusive club of the richest countries and

h

wealthiest individuals in t e world who meet regularly to plot and plan the future of the world. Whether their plans materialize or not is not relevant to my book but the Club of Rome does represent everything the

But while the country's British designed democractic institutions are still largely intact, the results intended by that democracy are far short of satisfactory.And without the majority of the Muslims realizing it, Malaysian democracy and freedom is also being threatened or erodedby a creeping irrationalism c!isguised under the cloak of religion. lt will be alright if our weil proven democractic system is replaced with something better but what is being promised has failed drastically in other so called 'lslamic countries' and has failed consistently over a thousand years. While the non Muslims in Malaysia have progressed at a very good clip, the Muslims seem to suffer an interminable element of never being able to keep up or catch up with the non Muslims. Malaysia faces a double danger because the Muslim non Muslim divide is also differentiated by race. Muslims being largely Malays and non Muslims being mainly

lslamic countries are not - but they would certainly like to be someday­ modern, practical, functioning and most of all free - especially from an interfering priesthood.

1 am not an academician and again this book is not touted as an academic

work. I think anyone who has something to say and has an inclination to

write should do so. This book is simply a collection of my observations

and my opinion of how things are and what 1 feel they should be or could

be.

1 have again tried my best to keep the book easy to read and understand.

The idea is to communicate. Again this book is addressed mainly to a

Malaysian audience. To make up for the mighty error of ignoring the English language for almost four decades and to make for easier reading

Chinese, Indians, Kadazans and so on.

in the English language 1 have provided the dictionary meanings of

The gaps between the Muslims and non Muslims cannot seem to be

book'To Digress A Little') has told me that it has made reading easier.

bridged and may be widening further caused in large part by an increasing religious awareness among the Muslims as weil as many non Muslims. lncreasing religious awareness seems to throw up even more obstacles

selected words in the footnotes.At least one _l\llalaysian reader (of my first

The aim of this book :to make the country and perhaps our world a slightly better place.

to bridging the gap across humanity. The latest episode in 2006 is the declaration by the non thinking brotherhood that 'kongsi raya' (1 really

don't know what that means) should not be allowed/held/celebrated/ shared etc. People seem to be less human friendly when they have more religion in them. Conversely people seem to be more human friendly when they have less religion in them.

SYED AKBAR All BUKIT JAUL

JULY 2006

The title of this book was originally meant to be 'Malaysia and the Temple of Doom' which was a play on the famous Harrison Ford movie 'Indiana

vi

Bizarre : strange, odd, crazyhorse, wild

vii

CHAPTER 1

"The devil promises

THE FAILED STATES

you only poverty and exhorts you to commit evil works while God promises you forgiveness from Him and blessings. God is bounteous, omniscient. '

The Helfer 2:268

S describing the various countries of the world . The Thi rd World, Developing Countries, Least Developed Countries or LDCs, Newly ince the 1 960s we have become fami l iar with a string of labels

l ndustrialising Countries or N I CS, the Fi rst World, the West, the countries of the South , the lslamic Countries (why are there no such thi ngs as 'Christian Countries' or 'Buddhist Countries') are names or ph rases that have been coined to capture in a snapshot of just a few words the enti rety of a nation. There have been many defin itions and redefinitions of most of the terms quoted above. The term 'Th i rd World' is attributed to Jawaharlal Nehru the fi rst Prime M i nister of l ndia to describe nations that were aligned neither to the West nor the Communists during the Cold War (Wikipedia). Here is one redefin ition of Thi rd World: "the technologically less advanced, or developing nations ofAsia, Africa, and Latin America, generally characterized as poor, having economies distorted by their dependence on the export of primary products to the developed countries in returnfor finished products. These nations also tend to have high rates of illiteracy, disease, and population growth and unstable governments. The term Third World was originally intended to distinguish the nonaligned nations that gained independence from colonial rule beginning after World War II" ( Columbia Encyclopedia).

Malaysia and The Club ofDoom

Yet another definfüon says that 'a developing country is a country with a relativ ely low standard o f liv ing, undeveloped infrastructure ... (whereby) development enta ils a modern infrastructure (both physical and institutional), and a move away from low value added sectors such as agriculture and natural resource extraction.

An 'lslamic Cou ntry' usually suffers all the above too plus a little more. Often an lslamic Cou ntry may also suffer violence ie either violence with i n its own borders agai nst its own people or violence imposed from outside. Another d istinct featu re of lslamic countries is that the people are always walking around in fear of suffering embarrassment from breach ing some rel igious rule or another. They always seem to sutter a guilty conscience. Generally Muslims are an unhappy lot. And on top of it all the 'lslamic Cou ntry' suffers the fit5 that it is somehow stil l blessed by God and that its inhabitants, especially its religious leaders, will all go to heaven. 1 also have a more mundane defin ition of Thi rd World. When you fly into a country you know it is the Third World when there are a thousand aimless people hanging out at the ai rport staring at the ai rplanes and the people who disembark. 1 have noticed this i n places like Manila i n the Phillipines, Port Moresby i n Papua New Guinea and Cairo in Egypt. Hundreds or thousands of people hang on to the guard rails or the perimeter fencing to stare at visitors disembarking from the planes. Today i n Malaysia people in Kota Bharu , the capital of the lslamic Daulah of Kelantan, stil l go to the ai rport to see the ai rplanes lariding and taking off. When the Government is not doing its job, the economy is not functioning and people do not have anyth ing useful to do, then many people will go and hang out at the ai rport. Perhaps they all yearn to get on an ai rplane and take off into the real world.

Fit : a sudden, uncontrolled period o f doing something o r feeling something, like in a trance

2

The Failed States

But this hanging out at the ai rport is not always true for all Thi rd World cou ntries. Few aimless people hang out at the ai rport i n oil rich Bahrain but when you talk to the rude Arab across the I mmigration counter, the not very helpful fel low at the bank or the loud g i rls at the duty free shop at the ai rport, you know that you are still in the Thi rd World. The Thi rd World is also rüde and uncaring. 1 think we can all agree that Th i rd World refers to countries that are econom ically underdeveloped , pol itically unstable and socially wanting. I n my view this would i nclude places like Somalia, Sudan , Mauritania, Honduras, the Phillipines and others. This is a random selection but 1 think we are stil l withi n the ballpark6. Developing countries are a subset of the Thi rd World that are tryihg to get themselves out otthe rut and move on to a h igher and better place i n life. These would include Brazil , Tun isia, l ndonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. However Malaysia and Brazil may need a classification by themselves because both are industrially advanced where the value of manufactured exp o rts exceeds a g ricu ltu ral a n d n o n m a n ufactu ri n g expo rts. Malaysia also has advanced i nfrastructure. Other than advanced highway networks, i nternal air l i n ks , u rban transit systems and efficient m u lti modal hookups the cou ntry has bu i lt advanced telecommunications links with approximately 10.0 m i llion I nternet users and 14 m i l l ion cel lular telephone users out of a population of almost 25 m i l l ion people. The N I CS are those countries that have indeed g raduated from the status of Developing Countries and have either achieved the ranks of t h e F i r�t Wo r l d o r a re a l m ost t h e re . Th e re a re ve ry few acknowledged N I CS and they are all in Asia namely Si ngapore, Taiwan , South Korea and the former Hong Kong. But again these descriptions are not defi n itie. Malaysia for example was progressing at a steady clip towards almost becoming a N I C . We are not exactly Thi rd World or 'Developing Country' anymore but within the ballpark : reasonably accurate (an American expression)

3

Malaysia and Tbe Club ofDoom

again this is arguable i n terms of which perspective we are looking from. lf 'developed'means having a high standard of living and good infrastructure then the West Coast of the Peninsula for example enjoys physical i nfrastructu re that could be the envy of many Weste rn nations. Many of our housing developments and new townships are par excel/ence even when compared to those in the First World.

Tbe Failed States

Today the vast majority of the Arab countries - which most defi n itely form the rem nant of the 'lslamic Civilisation' - are Fai led States. The Arab Hu man Development Report 2004 produced by the United Nations Development Programe summarises all the Arab states as: • •

The Klang Valley is almost definitely Fi rst World i n i nfrastructure. Notwithstanding the fact that it is i n the red , the fully automated and driverless Putra Light Rapid Transit system has been functioning very weil for almost a decade. lt is the langest fully automated train system in the world and we have it here i n Malaysia. lt has certainly raised the standard and expectations of all Malaysians of what a good urban transit system should be. We can not go back to the trams or plain old electric trai ns. In o u r sta n d a rd of l iv i n g , p ri m a ry s c h o o l c h i l d re n now carry handphones to school. There are over 1 4 m i l l ion registered motor veh icles in a nation of 25 m i l l ion people and over 1 .0 m i l l ion new veh icles are registered every year. Our fi rst generation of young adults has g rown up watching satellite tv since 1 996 in the Peninsula and even earlier i n Sarawak. Yet despite all these material improvements that can be achieved by a developing nation, a newer and more nefarious7 term has come i nto play of late. Th is is the FAI LED STATE. In brief a failed state is one where the clock has been tu rned back. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Pakistan, Afghanistan , l raq and maybe I ran (all being lslamic countries) are the clearest examples of this definition of a Failed , State i n the modern era. I n the past whole civilizations and empires have failed and had thei r clocks tu rned back. A very good example was the lslamic civi lization. From being i n novators and leaders i n science, l iteratu re a n d almost a l l forms o f knowledge the M uslims. became superstitious, childish, u n hygienic, violent and poor.

•

•

lacking freedom and good governance suffering acute corruption marg i nalizing segments of their population l i ke women and minorities and also that Arab governments suffer crisis of legitimacy. This means their governments do not represent the wil l of the people.

The Arab countries are failures. Documenting the 'Economic Collapse of the Arab World' Stephen Glain in his book 'M u llahs, Merchants and M i litants' laments that during the lslamic empire, Arab currency was held from Scandinavia to China and a draft order signed against a Damascus account would be honored in Canton. The draft orders were known in Arabic as sek, which inspired the English 'cheque' (pg. 77). Yet all the 22 members of the Arab League today are basket cases. Glain's notes that from 1 990 to 1 999 the per capita i ncome growth i n the 2 2 Arab countries averaged less than 1 % growth whereas their population averaged 4% growth over the same period . Saudi Arabia suffered an economic contraction of 1 . 1 % i n the ten years from 1 989 to 1 999. The Syrian Government does not even publicly announce its economic g rowth rates. The US Embassy in Damascus believes that the Syrian economy is actually contracting by as much as 4 % a year. But Syria has an expanding clique of 'noveau riche' or the new rich . Some of them are almost billionaires who enjoy ties to the ruling elite and can corner vast monopolies. 1 think in Malaysia we cal l them cronies.

Nefarious : evil or immoral, not good at all

4

5

r

Malaysia and Tbe Club ofDoom

Let us look at some more defin itions of a 'Failed State' . These have been derived from various sites on the I nternet. But 1 believe the message gets across about what is a Fai led State. "A state is failing when its government is losing physical control of its territory or lacks a monopoly on the legitimate use of force. Other symptoms include the e rosion of authority to make collective decisions, an inability to provide reasonable public services, and the loss of the capacity to i nteract . . . with the international commun ity". Another defin ition says a State is failing when there is "extensive corruption and crim inal behavior, inability to collect taxes or otherwise draw on citizen support, large-scale i nvol untary dislocation of the population, sharp economic decline, group-based i nequality, and institutionalized persecution or discri m ination are other hallmarks of state fai l u re . States can fai l at varyi ng rates of decli n e through explosion , implosion, o r erosion". .„

1 would l i ke to stress that these are not hard and fast 'rules' and

neither are any of these defin itions of a Failed State written i n stone. They are just a simple and organized way to arrange our thoughts about this thing called a Failed State which 1 hope will make for easier discussion. 1 am sure the reader may have other defin itions or more structured thi n king on the matter. What is important to realize is that there are such things now as Failed States. 50 years ago when many countries i n the world were stil l colonies or had just been released from the g rips of colonialism the problem of the 'Failed State' was not such an issue especially to their own peoples because at that time they did not have freedom to determine their futu re. But a 'Failed State' is becoming an increasing reality now after 50 years or more of i ndependence for the Malaysias, Bangladeshes and Egypts of the world. We are now operating under our own steam . After 50 years of post World War II independence, many of these cou ntries or people are just falling down. The point 1 would l i ke to make here is that a country can regress and become a Fai led State. The other thing that 1 would l i ke the reader 6

Tbe Failed States

to bear i n mind is that all the lslamic cou ntries are wel l qualified to become Failed States. 1 would especially like the Muslim readers to real ize thi s and then hopefully they wil l start panicking immediately. Perhaps they will then be motivated to u rgently do something useful and positive to rectify the p redicament they are i n . They real ly do not have the l uxury of time. Of cou rse there wil l also be those who wil l bury thei r heads deeper in the sand and say 'We are fine. Leave us alone. ' Sometimes t h e fai l u re is not i n t h e whole state but among certain population groups only. I n some countries that are multi cultu ral, multi ethnic or multi religious (especially like Malaysia) we may observe some of the characteristics of the Fai led State in one g roup of people - for example withi n the Muslims on ly. Lets coin a ph rase for them . These would then be the Failed Population G roups. However whether a State or a Population G roup the characteristics of their fail u re are the same. The fol lowi ng defin ition of 'Fai led State' does narrow it down to a population group and not necessarily the whole State. "Characteristics of Failed Countries : Whether analyzing m i litary capabi l ities, cultural viabil ity or economic potential , these seven factors offer a quick study of the l i kely performance of a state, region , or population g roup i n the coming centu ry.

These key "fail u re factors" are: 1 Restrictions on the free flow of information. 2 The subj ugation of women. 3 l nability to accept responsibility for individual or col lective failure. 4 T h e exte n d e d fam i ly o r clan as the basic u n it of soc i a l organization. 5 Domination by a restrictive religion. 6 A low valuation of education . 7 Low p restige assigned to work.

7

Malaysia and Tbe Club ofDoom

lt is unnerving yet many of the above seven characteristics are also descriptive of the situation of the Muslims i n Malaysia vis a vis the non Muslims i n the country. In Malaysia the non M uslims can discuss thei r religion at wil l . The Muslims can go to jail or have fatwas issued against them if they raise issues that are disagreed with by the rel igious authorities. The non M uslim women can dress in j ust about any way they want but the Muslim women are frowned upon if they don't wear a head cover or tudung. Marina Mahath i r, a newspaper columnist and a common sensical person has said that Malaysian Muslim women suffer "apartheid". Here is an excerpt from the AFP news service : AFP KU AI.A LUMPUR,March 9, 2006 -The daughter offormer prime minister Mahathir Mohamad has likened the status of Muslim women inMalaysia to that ofSouth African blacks under apartheid.Marina Mahathir, a prominent social activist, made the claim in her regular Wednesday column for the Star daily to mark International Women 's Day. The column did not appear Wednesday but will be published Thursday, she said. Marina Mahathir said that apartheid was still being practised in other forms even though it had disappearedfrom South Africa. "In our country, there is an insidious growing form of apartheid amongMalaysian women, that betweenMuslim and non-Muslim women," she wrote in a copy of the text obtained by AFP Malaysia 's population of 25 million is dominated by some 60 percentMuslimMalays. Chinese and Indians make up 26 percent and 8. 0 percent respectively. "We are unique in that we actively legally discriminate against women who are arguably the mafority in this country, Muslim women. Non-MuslimMalaysian women have benefited from more progressive laws over the years while the opposite has happened for Muslim women, " said Marina Mahathir.

Marina's views were eloquently restated by Zainah Anwar - another spokesperson for the Sister's i n Islam - i n her colu m n i n the New 8

Tbe Failed States

Straits Times where she wrote : "Far Muslim warnen it is all the mare painful that it is Islam that is used ta deny change. ls it any wonder then that many are beginning to describe Malaysia as a country that practices religiaus apartheid as it formally establishes one set af rights for non-Muslims granting equality and justice between men and warnen, and a separate set af rights for Muslims, ma ving toward more inequality and injustice far Muslim women. As it was under apartheid rufe in Sauth Africa, separate can never be equal" (NST 7/4/06) . Other than Marina's and Zai nah's obse rvations about the social welfare of Muslim women under the religious enactments and in the rel igious courts, the New Economic Policy and after that the Outline Perspective Plan or OPP are acknowledgements of the dire economic straits of the M uslims i n Malaysia. Malaysia has indeed become an economic success story but the M uslims do not yet feel comfortable enough to lay clai m to much of the success. As the ruling majority they have mai ntai ned the peace and been good administrators of the land which has provided opportun ity for the non Muslims to go about their busi ness largely unhindered . Everyone i n Malaysia has benefited from this relationship but there is much that simmers under the su rface. There is now the real th reat that with the i ncreasing creep of religion, the Muslims may outwardly start to manifest the bad characteristics of a Failed Population G roup withi n the larger Malaysian economy and society. The fact is this failure is already becoming apparent. 1 will discuss these things further i n Chapter 3. Another defi n ition of a Fai led State has narrowed it down to the 'Twelve l ndicators of a Fai led state' which are : 1 - Mounting Demographie Pressures 2 - Massive Movement of Refugees and Displaced Persons 3 - Legacy of Vengeance - Seeki ng G roup G rievance 4 - Chronic and Sustai ned Hu man Flight 5 - Uneven Economic Development along G roup Lines 9

Malaysia and Tbe Club ofDoom

6 Sharp and/or Severe Economic Decline 7 - Crimi nalization or Delegiti mization of the State 8 Prog ressive Deterioration of Public Services 9 Widespread Violation of Human Rights 1 0 Secu rity Apparatus as "State withi n a State" 11 Rise of Factional ized Elites 1 2 - I ntervention of Other States or External Actors -

-

-

Tbe Failed States

him from such mass murder. But obviously he was from a part of the population where logic or reasoning does not hold much water. And there are m i l l ions of people l i ke him i n the world today. They could be our neighbours.

-

-

As 1 have said the defin itions differ. But the fact remains that all this discussion and defin ition about Failed States has been prompted by common sense observation and verifiable confi rmation of the many countries or population g roups i n the world today that are basically dysfunctional6• There is also the fact that the world is much smaller now. The interconnectivity and i ntra regional links between countries and people is increasing. Before not many people may have cared much about Fai led States or Fai led Population G roups. But the world is too i nterconnected. Fai led States or the products of Failed States can cause chaos and mayhem around the world. For example Dr Azahari Husin was a Malaysian Muslim who obtained a Phd i n a scientific discipl ine from a Western u n iversity. His education up to the PhD level was paid for by the Government. Dr Azahari was a un iversity lecturer and had a great futu re. He was certainly among the privileged. But Dr Azahari chose to become a master bomb maker who made and exploded bombs that killed hundreds of people from all over the wo rld . Why wou l d a Malaysian "Musl i m" with a P h D run oft to lndonesia, Afghanistan or the Phillipines to learn to make and explode bombs that would kil l hundreds of people most of whom were j ust innocent travelers ? What would he achieve and what would he try to prove ? Noth ing really. He was j ust a terribly confused and frustrated person. He was from the Fai led Population G roup. He was definitely obeying his own religious faith but most certainly he was not serving God or Islam .. Logical reasoning would have thwarted

Hence the world can not ignore the Failed States or the Fai led Population G roups anymore. lf we ignore them it is at our own peril. Si nce seif interest is the best i nterest, it is high time the world started paying real attention to these people or states and see what makes them fai l . Then we must take steps to remove those cancers, vi ruses, toxins and whatever eise there is that makes these people fai l . Some surveys l i ke the Hu man Development I ndex developed b y the Un ited Nations Hu man Development Report (available at http :// hdr. u ndp.org) have tried to cou nt the actual number of Fai led States in the world today. Due to the varying definitions of what is exactly a Failed State the count may vary but it is estimated that about a third of the world's population or 2 billion people live i n the so called Failed States with varying degrees of vulnerability to widespread civil conflict, economic backward ness, social restrictions and j ust general unhappiness. These fol ks are j ust plain u nhappy. And they are taught to hate other people. The Failed States can be found .all over the World from South East Asia, South Asia, the M iddle East, Africa and th rough South America. But there are the common characteristics among all of them some of which 1 have al ready listed above. In different Failed States certain negative factors are more domi nant than others. I n l ndia - which used to be a Failed State and which sti l l exh ibits many of the characteristics of a Failed State - overpopulation and the subsequent demographic pressures has been a difficult problem which only now is being overcome. At the time of this writi ng the lvory Coast, a country in Africa cut i n half by civil war, is most vulnerable to disintegration . lt would probably collapse completely if U. N . peacekeeping 1fo rces pul led out. I n Egypt limited arable9 land and a !arge population also

Dysfunctional : not behaving or working normally, or as it should Arable : suitable for agriculture

10

11

Malaysia and Tbe Club ofDoom

exert extreme demographic p ressu res which i n h ibits g rowth and advancement. In Pakistan there h ave been fou r assassi n ation attempts al ready against President Pervez Musharraf. Pakistan is also more polarized now among the Baluch is, the Punjabis, the Mohaj i rs, the Sindhis, the Pathans and a dozen other tribal g roups there. Pakistan pundits say that a wel l placed bomb is sufficient to make Pakistan disinteg rate completely. In 2006 Somalia occupies pole position10 i n the Fai led States race. But among all the lslamic cou ntries, rel igion seems to have a larger than l ife role i n ultimately causing State fai l u re. This is the subject of this book. And when lslamic cou ntries also suffer other problems like limited arable land in Egypt - then they suffer a double whammy11• Observers have for years discussed an "arc of instabi l ity" - an expression that came i nto use i n the 1 970s to refer to an "lslamic Crescent" extending from Afghanistan and the "Stans" in the southern part of the former Soviet Union and on to the Horn of Africa and beyond. Although the defin ition of Fai led States is not restricted to the Muslim countries, a large proportion (al mest all) of the Muslim countries fall within this unfortunate classification. As the UN DP report has found all the 22 Arab cou ntries in the Arab League are basket cases12• Here is an analysis of the very sorry state of the lslamic countries by D r Farru kh Salee m , an I slamabad , Pakistan based free lance column ist. All cu rrency figu res are in US Dollars. This is taken from

11 12

What went wrong? Capital Suggestion Dr Farrukh Saleem The combined annual GDP of 57 Muslim countries remains under $2 trillion. America, just by herself, produces goods and services worth $10.4 trillion. Oil rich Saudi Arabia, U.A.E., Kuwait and Qatar collectively produce goods and services (mostly oil) worth $430 billion; Netherlands alone has a higher annual GDP while Buddhist Thailand produces goods and services worth $429 billion. Muslims are 22 percent of the world population and produce less than five percent of global GDP. Even more worrying is that the Muslim countries' GDP as a percent of the global GDP is going down over time. The Arabs, it seems, are particularly worse off. According to the United Nations' Arab Development Report: "Half of Arab women cannot read; One in five Arabs live on less than $2 per day; Only 1 percent of the Arab population has a personal computer, and only half of 1 percent use the Internet; Fifteen percent of the Arab workforce is unemployed, and this number could double by 2010; The average growth rate of the per capita income during the preceding 20 years in the Arab world was only one-half of 1 percent per annum, worse than anywhere but sub-Saharan Africa." The planet's poorest countries include Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Somalia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Mozambique. At least six of the poorest of the poor are countries with a Muslim majority.

http://www. jang. com. pk

10

Tbe Failed States

Pole position : Number 1 starting position at the F1 and other car races Double whammy : a situation when two unpleasant things happen at almost the same time, when problems are compounded, piled up one on top of the other Basket case: insane (people in mental institutions are sometimes taught to weave baskets)

12

Conclusion: Muslims of the world are among the poorest of the poor. Fifty-seven Muslim majority countries have an average of ten universities each for a total of less than 600 universities for 13

Malaysia and Tbe Club ofDoom

1.4 billion people; India has 8,407 universities, the U.S. has 5,758. From within 1.4 billion Muslims Abdus Salam and Ahmed Zewail are the only two Muslim men who won a Nobel Prize in physics and chemistry. (Salam) pursued his scienti.fic work in Italy and the UK, Zewail at California Institute of Technology ). Dr Salam in his home country is not even considered a Muslim. Over the past 105 years, 1.4 billion Muslims have produced eight Nobel Laureates while a mere 14 million Jews have produced 167 Nobel Laureates. Of the 1.4 billion Muslims less than 300,000 qualify as 'scientists', and that converts to a ratio of 230 scientists per one.million Muslims. The United States of America has 1.1 million scientists (4,099 per million); Japan has 700,000 (5,095 per million). Fact: Of the 1.4 billion Muslims 800 million are illiterate ( 6 out of 10 Muslims cannot read). In Christendom, adult literacy rate sta,nds at 78 percent. Consider, for instance, that Muslims constitute 22 percent of world population with a 1 percent share of Nobel Prizes. Jews constitute 0.23 percent of world population with a 22 percent share of Nobel Prizes. What really went wrong? Muslims are poor, illiterate and weak. What went wrong? Arriving at the right diagnosis is extremely critical because the prescription depends on it. Consider this: Diagnosis 1: Muslims are poor, illiterate and weak because they have'abandoned the divine heritage of Islam'. Prescription: We must return to our real or imagined past.

14

Tbe Failed States

Diagnosis 2: Muslims are poor, illiterate and weak because we have refused to change with time. Keep pace with time -- al Quran

So what we nt wro n g ? Those l s l a m i c cou ntries t h at g a i n e d independence from t h e British a n d other Eu ropean powers i n the 201h centu ry would have collapsed m uch earlier if it had not been for physical i nfrastructures and certain institutions of govern ment and administration that were put in place by the colonials which sustained them for a time. Transportation networks, railway signaling systems, t raff i c codes, e d u cat i o n syste ms, p e n a l codes, gove r n m e n t administrative departments and s o o n that were put i n place b y the colonials to serve rudi mentary needs of a colonial economy were not sufficiently expanded to nourish development and growth . Hence my Pakistani friends say that a posh neighborhood cal led Clifton i n Karachi suffers low water p ressu re in 2006 such that water does not go up to the second floor bathrooms in peoples' houses u n less a i d e d by s p e c i a l wate r p u m p s f i tted i n d iv i d u a l l y by homeowners . (This can also be said about parts of Malaysia.) Pakistanis say that during British rule (wh ich ended i n 1 948) the water pressu re was good enough for water to go u p five storeys without the aid of any pumps. Both i n Malaysia and Singapore the road system was inherited from the British. But on the tiny and supposedly 'non lslamic' island of Singapore which in less than 50 years has graduated from the Thi rd World and has become a developed nation, they have carefully studied and plan ned their traffic system and traffic rules to meet the ever expanding requirements of a g rowing nation. Hence i n some areas traffic light j u nctions are monitored by sensors which adj ust the timing of the lights to clear roads with heavier traffic. The idea is to make life on the land scarce island republic more efficient and easy. Because their population is increasing while the available land is not, they have to adopt evolvi ng tech nology and change as a constant i n their l ives.

15

Malaysia and The Club ofDoom

But in Malaysia the traffic cops wil l come out in droves on Satu rdays and Sundays to issue tickets to the exasperated working housewife who parked her car on the yellow line to do her rushed shopping at t h e wet m a rket i n h e r inc reas i n g l y ove rc rowd ed s u b u rb a n neighborhood. T h i s is another example o f Th i rd World th inking. I n the end i t is w e who tie ou rselves down in the Thi rd World. Why not the traffic cops allow parking at the yel low l ines for certain hou rs on Satu rday and Sunday morn i ngs near the wet markets so that the struggling housewife who has a job and also has to cook and clean for her h usband can shop qu ickly and in peace ? These are not law breakers but just housewives. Can we make life easier for them ? This is also another big difference between the Developed World and the Thi rd World that is stuck i n a rut13. The Developed World constantly adapts quickly to the changing environment to continuously make l ife easier for its people. In sharp contrast the Th i rd World believes that most thi ngs, especially its religions, are written i n stone. Hence their people suffer. In the ' lslamic cou ntries' the rel i g ious scholars may impart strange ideas that food and water should only be consumed while sitting down . Hence 1 saw a group of turbanned men squatting on a dirty sidewal k i n Kuala Lumpur to consume food and water, conscious yet pretending to be oblivious14 of the strange stares.

1be Failed States

light j unction. This makes it more efficient to travel by public buses in Beiji ng. For convenience and saving space the Chinese have converted the spaces u nder flyovers and bridges into carparks and basketball courts. N ow that is thinking out of the box too. But in Kuala Lumpur the buses and taxis do not always use the lanes res erved for them and neither are they pulled over by the police. Ou ring traffic congestion, the bus lanes are frequently empty while ca rs have to jostle for limited space in their lanes often with the same taxis and buses. No one ben efits from this poor plan n i n g and implementation. This is also the hallmark of the Thi rd World - plans and policies are put into practice which hinder more than benefit. While the bus lane remains empty life does not get easier for the other motorists. Life is made more difficult for them. In short even the lslamic countries like Malaysia did inherit a good workable system from the colonials but after a few decades of independence the implementation of some of these systems has broken down or is breaking down. ·

But in some lslamic countries, something even more nefarious15 crept into the system. The luckier ones only suffered weak implementation of a workable system inherited from the colonials. lf a system is good and workable, weaknesses in implementation can be overcome by cleaning up the implementors. Corrupt judges, lazy bureaucrats or scheming lawyers can all be disciplined and the system wil l revert to good working order.

During the time when Anwar l b rah i m was the Deputy Prime Minister, new dedicated bus and taxi lanes were introduced i n the national capital which simply does not work. lt is an offence for cars to use these lanes reserved for buses and taxis. Only certain stretches of roads have these lanes and the cars have to constantly keep movi ng out of the lanes at those stretches. I n Singapore buses can use the bus lanes only d u ring peak hou rs between 7:30 am to 9:30 am and between 4 pm to 8 pm. At other times the bus lanes are open to everyone. They adjust their rules to make life easy for their people. In Beij ing, China buses are allowed to make U turns at every traffic

But many of the lslamic countries started creating their own way of doing things, usually according to some religious model, which could not work frorri day one. Lik� square shaped tyres, they were inherently flawed. Then after that they still suffered weak implementation of these already unworkable ideas. This was the double whammy again. In an inherently flawed system, no amount of cleaning up corruption

13

15

14

rut : sunken tracks in mud made by wheels of vehicles Oblivious : not aware of something, especially what is happening around you

16

Nefarious : wicked, bad, cruel, no good, immoral

17

Malaysia and Tbe Club ofDoom

Tbe Failed Stares

or reducing laziness is going to help. They are doomed . This is one horror movie that does not end even when the lights are tu rned on." Remember that in this chapter we are talking about the Failed States and some of the factors that make them fail . I n Malaysia after i ndependence, all men and women had recou rse to the Civil Cou rts which were based on British law pri nciples in dealing with all matters. Then it was said that Muslims should only have legal recou rse l i mited to the religious cou rts to handle their domestic and family matters. The British law was an 'undang undang kristian' or Ch ristian inspi red western law and therefore it was feit that in certain matters the Muslims should not have recou rse to these undang undang kristian. N ow after m u c h s u ffer i n g , m a n y Mus l i m wom en a re l ou d l y complaining of poor treatment and prejudice at the hands of the religious cou rts in matters of divorce and matrimony. Non Musl i m women i n Malaysia do not have a s many complai nts about the workings of the Civil Cou rts. Hence Marina Mahathi r's and Zainah Anwar's comments about Malaysia's Musli m women suffering social apartheid. The perceived prejudice is not only by the implementors like the judges and the administrators of the lslamic courts but also by the laws themselves. The Sisters i n Islam , a womens' rights group submitted a Memorandum to the Government of Malaysia i n March 1 997 which had the following complaints about the Syariah System : "For years, Muslim women inMalaysia have complained about the injustice they have suffered in the syariah system, both when they seek help and advice at theReligious Departments and when they seek judicial redress to their problems in the Syariah Courts. In spite of speeches and public support for the plight of women under the syariah system from the Prime Minister and Deputy PrimeMinister, in spite ofthe continual newspaper coverage ofthe problems women fa ce in ge tting a ccess to justice, no comprehensive action has been taken to end the widespread suffering of women and children when marriages break down. 18

The seeming arbitrariness with which judgments are made had left many women with the impression that the Syariah Courts are unable to give women a fair hearing and have failed to play the role of the impartial arbiter in cases of dispute between two parties. The widespread report of the injustice women have suffered in the syariah system has undermined women 's confidence tha t the system can indeed dispense justice. " (www. muslimtents. com/sistersinislam/memo)

The views expressed by the Sisters in Islam in 1 997 echoes the suffering feit by thousands of Muslim women in Malaysia u ntil today. The system does not work for them . To make matters even m u rkier, t h e G overnment sponsored and passed a new law called the lslamic Fami ly Law Bill for Muslims in December 2005 which has been strongly criticized even by Ministers. The womens' g roups feel that this law has the potential to be even more prejudiced against women especially in its i mplementation. ·

Some commentators i n Malaysia have even questioned if indeed the lslamic Fam i ly Law Bill is part of the Syariah laws. ? This is not a surprising query. We wil l see more of this i n Chapter 8. Often different lslamic countries have different flavou rs of Syariah law. While one party may claim that it is part of the Syariah, others may not agree. In Afghanistan, they once implemented a law whereby as punishment, a brick wall was d ropped on convicted homosexuals. Other lslamic countries may not agree to the Afghan type looney tunes 16• In Malaysia the ruling party UMNO does not agree with all the Hudud Laws proposed by the PAS religious party. I n the Dedication of this book (page 1 5 1 ) it was suggested by a friend that this book also be dedicated 'to the m i l lions of Malaysians who do not know what is really going on in the country1• Not to be excluded

16

Looney tunes : stupid)

a famous cartoon featuring loony characters (loony : foolish or

19

Malaysia and 1be Club ofDoom

should be the hundreds of millions of Muslims who do not know what is going on with in their 'religion'. Really many Malaysians especially the Muslims do not know what is really going on. For example in Malaysia they do not know that part of the l s l a m i c Fam i ly Laws that are s u p posed to be "Syariah Complaint" which are in force in this country are actually ciplak or plagiarized from the British law or what may be called the undang undang kristian1 7• Don't believe me ? Here is the evidence.

1be Failed States

Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1 976 - based on British law. section 76 . as sets.

Power of Court to order division of matrimonial

The court shall have power, when granting a decree

(1)

of divorce or judicial separation, to order the division between the parties of any assets acquired by them

during the marriage by their joint efforts or the sale of

I n Malaysia, over matters of marriage and divorce the non Muslims have access to the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1 976 (Act 1 64) & Rules. The Marriage and Divorce Act is not perfect but it has been derived from hundreds of years of case precedent, legal argument and most importantly successful implementation in dozens of similar legal systems around the world. And todate the non Muslims in Ma,laysia have not registered any loud complaints against this Law - most defin itely not to the same degree as the Muslim women are complaining about the lslamic Family laws. The Muslims are denied access to this fai rly just Law but instead they have been given the supposedly 'Syariah Compliant' lslamic Family Law (Federal Territories ) Act 1 984 (Act 303) . But su rprise, su rprise the fact is certain very pertinent sections of the lslamic Family Law are actually ciplak or copied from the British law based Marriage And Divorce Act. For example the very important Section 58 of the lslamic Family Law is a duplicate of Section 76 of the Law Reform Act.

any such assets and the division between the parties of the proceeds of sale.

In exercising the power conferred by subsection

(2) (a)

(b) (c)

money, property or towards the acquiring of the

assets;

any debts owing by either party which were contracted for their joint benefit;

the needs of the minor children, if any, of the marriage,

and subject to those considerations, the court shall

of divorce or judicial Separation, to Order the division

between the parties of any assets acquired during the

marriage by the sole effort of one party to the marriage or the sale of any such assets and the division between the parties of the proceeds of sale.

In exercising the power conferred by subsection (d)

20

the extent of the contributions made by each party in

The court shall have power, when granting a decree

(3)

(4)

kristian : in today's parlance anything Western can be deemed 'kristian'.

(1)

incline towards equality of division.

Firstly here is Section 76 from the British law based or undang undang kristian version :

17

the court shall have regard to -

the court shall have regard to -

(3)

the extent of the contributions made by the other party who did not acquire the assets to the welfare of the

family by looking after the home or caring the family;

21

Malaysia and Tbe Club ofDoom

(e)

The Failed States

the needs of the minor children, if any, of the marriage;

a.

and subject to those considerations, the court may divide the assets or the proceeds of sale in such

proportions as the court thinks reasonable; but in any

b.

acquired shall receive a greater proportion.

c.

case the party by whose effort the assets were

(5)

For the purposes of this section, references to assets

before the marriage by one party which have been

of

divorce, to order the division between the parties of

effort of one party to the marriage or the sale of any

such assets and the division between the parties of the proceeds of sale.

In exercising the power conferred by subsection

(4) d.

C o u rt to order d i v i s i o n of h a rta

e.

(3)

the extent of the contributions made by the other party

who did not acquire the assets to the welfare of the

The court shall have power, when permitting the

family;

the needs of the minor children of the marriage, if any;

and, subject to those considerations, the Court may divide the assets or the proceeds of sale in such

pronouncement of talaq or when making an order of

proportions as the Court thinks reasonable; but in any

any assets acquired by them during the marriage by

acquired shall receive a greater proportion.

divorce, to order the division between the parties of

case the party by whose effort the assets were

their joint efforts or the sale of any such assets and

the division betwe_en the parties of the proceeds of

sale.

(2)

the court shall have regard to -

family by looking after the home or caring for the

sepencarian.

(1)

the needs of the minor chi/dren, if any, of the marriage,

and subject to those considerations, the court shall

pronouncement of talaq or when making an order of

lslamic Fam i ly Law (Federal Territories) Act 1 984 Power

for their joint benefit;

any assets acquired during the marriage by the sole

Now here is Section 58 from the supposedly "Syariah Complianf' lslamic Fam i l y Law. The reader must bear in mind that this is a verbatim reproduction . Even the title is the same as Section 76 of the Marriage and Divorce Act. Only minor changes are made like using the Arabic word talaq instead of 'divorce' or the Malay word harta sepencarian instead of 'matrimonial assets'.

58.

any debts owing by either party which were contracted

The court shall have power, when permitting the

(3)

other party or by their joint efforts.

Sect i o n

assets;

incline towards equality of division.

acquired during a marriage include assets owned substantially improved during the marriage by the

the extent of the contributions made by each party in

money, property or towards the acquiring of the

In exercising the power conferred by subsection

the court shall have regard to -

(1)

(5)

For the purposes of this section, references to assets

acquired during a marriage include assets owned before the marriage by one party that ha ve been

substantially improved during the marriage by the other party or by their joint efforts.

By any measure this part of the supposedly 'Syariah Compliant'

22

23

Malaysia and 1be Club ofDoom

1be Failed States

l slamic Family Law is a ciplak or plagiarism from the British law based Marriage and Divorce Act. When the controversial Amendments to the lslamic Family Law Bill were bulldozed though the Parliament in 2005 some of the religious outfits started making the usual tin can noises in the media that only those who know the shariah, the ijma, the qiyas etc should comment on the Amendments. Here is an example from the media :

MI\.y LAW • ISLAMI( FA

J(S 1" 1 f)fo2.

/06

oW h s s m s c\ \t\ r . C e � d e \ w o n k of · \ a ck SJ;.�:

of tbe tbe soutt.es tbe Quran. f namely tb o (consen· ditb lau entic. ttad\tions

exprewa:rtf!ci :Development :eJl � Seri Datuk eonunuru

WE Wisb to it.ude to

MiJlis�r

•

Pro�het),

f::iogy) un· lslamicjurlsPruden�n haW "tical of

tbe

and susl. QiyaS da""' sources of otber sec,on ... '

Abdul Jalil f?r FamilY tbe ts\amic Territoryl

� c\arify (?ederal Bill 'l.n!� tlrm· !:'endment We al."W 3!lpltW·tb tbe con·

fh0$6 who cn -�"" m romisingly only ex�co tbe PBill haw r asp or 1gno·

their lar.lt O gr Ma"adir al l tbe 1 "" of tb� sr!ID'et>"ahOf(Sourtes .aw); the Maq&Sld al J medd �de covcr· 1�. „ (Priorilies of tbe l�­ by ill-infor TE R 6

'0 you who believe many priests (habar) and monks cheat the people out of their money, and divert them from the path of God. Those who hoard gold and silver, and spend it not in the cause of God, promise them a painful retribution '

The Repentance 9:34

TH ROWI N G U P N EW HATR E DS AGAIN ST NON M US LI M S or yea rs now 1 have been listening in to I nternet discussion lists in volvi n g a l l sorts of M uslims from a l l over the world . lt is b ec om ing obvious that there is now yet another g roup of confused and mistakenly con'fident M uslims who live in the West. Many of them are the children of Muslim immigrants who left thei r "Failed State" lslamic countries aft:e rthe Second World War to find new opportunities in the US, UK and IE u rope. Their chi ldren have now g rown up in the West - sti l l firmly holding on to the religion and traditions thei r immigrant parents have imparted t o them i n thei r adopted Western country but not realizing that it was this same religion and values which messed up their count ries of origin and forced their parents to escape to the West in the first place. Many have now started to hate the West and non M uslims.

F

Now there is also the young generation of M uslims who are causing serious problems among thei r Western societies. In France for example thousands of children of North African Muslim immigrants went on a month long rampage in 2006 setting fire to cars and b uses in protest over alleged Pol i ce brutality: The rampage was actually a symptom of a g reater malaise ie not being able to adapt successfully i nto th1e larger society. -

The accomplished American journalist and writer Seymour Hersh in

his book 'Cha i n of Com mand' talks at length about Zacharias

Tbrowing Up New Hatreds Against Non Muslims

Malaysia and Tbe Club ofDoom

Moussaoui - the alleged 201h hijacker in the 9-1 1 plot - who is fac i

11�

trial in 2006 in the United States. Moussaoui was born in France ° North African parents. According to Hersh's book, a whole generau 0 of North African youngsters like Moussaoui cannot speak Arab ic they only speak French. They see themselves as 'not existin g' either as Frenchmen or as North Africans. Sadly for them they also suffer discrimination from the French . The inevitable result is a hatred)

:

_

for France, and by extension,

for the West.

ple arrogance foun? ed of even simpler ignor� � ce. They . Th is is sim . . mtense ahenat1on from reahty aka deh num. On ring a r e su ffe 1 1 , 2005, the Premier of Ontario, Canada's largest er S ep te mb provin ce , emphatic:ally declared: "Ontario will reject the use of Shariah ill move to prohibit all religious-based tribunals to settle l a W and w utes such as divorce. " disp ily ta m Firstly there is not one lslamic country in the wo_rld that has established

Many of them li ke Moussaoui become attracted to radical Islam. Islam is the o n ly

a tully functional system of religious laws and courts. There is no

describe them as chair a canon

been able to docurnent and write down a complete and decisive set

plausible identity they can endorse because it helps them get o ut of this feeling of being 'less than nothing' . French human rights workers

cannon fodder - easily recr uited who were willing to fight, and die, for a religious cause ab out zealots -

such thing. Despit13 over a thousand years of bickering and arguing and labelling each other apostates the religious scholars have not

of religious laws. They have just not been able to do it. And they are

which they know little.

still bickering and arguing. We have already seen that a part of the

In the United Kingdom, even after 50 years of immigration many

trom the British law based Marriage and Divorce Act 1 976.

l slamic Family Law Bill 1 984 in Malaysia has actually been copied

Pakistanis are still dependent on welfare handouts to survive. Large

numbers of Pakistanis still live in subsidized local council flats within

the British socialist system. Now many young Pakistanis are i nvolved

I n a newspaper interview (NST 2 0/03/06) Mustafa Ali, a Pas

strong m an from Tetrengganu said that when Pas ruled the State of

in street crime and beginning in the 1 990s Pakistani elders were

Terengganu from 1 !�99 till 2004, although they passed the Terengganu

in the vice trade.

/egal extent. Like for example the wearing of tudung, . : We never

In the U_nited States economically successful immigrant Muslims are proud to trumpet that there are now more than 6 . 0 million Muslim s in

usefu l ploy to get the votes from the simple people. They do not

reall y intend to enforce it.

themselves to the highly successful Jewish population in the United

At the other ext reme, when asked about the same S y ariah

the ballet box to press for more "lslamic" rights in America. 1 have

says that it is more important to implement

shocked that in places like Birmingham many Pakistanis are involved

enforced it. . " To the political animals like the Pas, the Syariah is a

the US - more than the number of Jews in that country. Comparin g

States, it is their wish now that they use their numerical strength at

heard American Muslims on the I nternet saying that if America

embraces their religion then American society will find "true happiness

and true greatness".

Syariah Code Enactment they 'did not enforce it according to the full

Obviously this is another expression of dislike

for their hosts - in this case very successful hosts who have welcomed

Enactments the present Menteri Besar of Terengganu Dato ldris Jusoh

the 'fiqh ala wiat' or

"priorities" first. This is the first time 1 am hearing about this animal

called 'fiqh alawiat'.

Again this means that none of the politicians,

either PAS o r U MNO, really wants to implement the S yariah

Enactments . And this is in Malaysia, a country whose Constitution

them into their community and provided them new chances at life.

declares that ' Islam is the religion of the Federation' .

In Canada immigrant Muslims from Pakistan have asked for the

Therefore for Muslim immigrants in Canada to make calls for the

establishment of religious courts to cater for their domestic disputes.

establishment of a system of religious courts and that too in an

110

111

Malaysia and Tbe Club ofDoom

Tbrowing Up New Hatreds Against Non Muslims

adopted Western country that has been kind enough to take them i n and give them a second chance at life is indeed the heights of arrogance and ignorance. And of course when they are denied th eir request it only breeds even more hatred from them towards the n o n

m 05 q ues and madrassas which imbued them with fiery religious hate n d a fals e sense of superiority over the 'infidel west' . Setter late h an never the B rrnish are now restricting the ent � into th� ir country f t hese religious hate mongers from the lslam1c countnes . In our

Muslims.

In the United States just 6.0 million Jews have been able to co m pete

with and overcome ·

250 million other Americans including whites

�

blacks, latins, Chinese and just about every one eise. The Jews ar

among the most highly educated people in the United States. They

control the media, the banks, the major universities and they are

also highly influential over the United States Congress and Senate.

In other words the Jews do not depend on numbers but brains to be

successful. Can the Muslims match this

?

Although the Jews are

inheritors of even more confusing religious laws, the Jews have never asked for the establishment of any Jewish religious courts in the United States. They function quite well within the American system . After a few decades of taking their Western comforts for granted,

these Muslims who live in the West are denying the obvious fact that

they are enjoying the benefits of other peoples' efforts and other people's civilization. But the fact is whether they are of Indian origin

in the United Kingdom, Pakistani origin in Canada, Moroccan origin in France or

Arab origin in the United States these Muslims set

themselves apart from mainstream Western society. Then when the

melt down does happen like it has in France and also in the United

Kingdom where a whole generation of immigrant Muslims realizes

that it is really not getting along with the rest of Western society thei r

behaviour can be quite predictable and often catastrophic.

They

show hatred for the people who have fed them and clothed them. In July

2005 London suffered a series of suicide bomb blasts on its Underground trains which killed 25 people. The bombs were allegedly

set off by young men who were the sons of immigrant Muslims. They went to British schools, had British friends and grew up British yet

� �

�

wn country, only now the Police are lookin� to arrest Abu akar _ _ B as hi r the lndonesian hate monger who was 1a1led 1n lndones1a for i ns ti gating the Jennaah lslamiyah terrorist hate bombers who have

kil le d h undreds of people. Abu Bakar Bashir had previously been granted P R status in Malaysia. The Times of London, in its online edition of

201h April 2006 reports

about a religious nnadrassa in London, funded by the Shiah lranian Government which preaches hate to its students :

http ://www.timesonline. co. uk/article/O, ,2-2142403. html TI M ES ON LIN E

(LON DON) , APRIL 20, 2006. MUSLIM students

training to be imams at a British college with strong lranian links

have complai ned that they are being taught fundamentalist doctrines

which describe non Muslims as "filth" .

The Times has obtained extracts from medieval texts taught to the students in which unbelievers are likened to pigs and dogs. The texts are taught at the Hawza Ilmiyya of London, a religious school, which has a sister institution, the /slamic College for Advanced Studies (/CAS). . . . They have a single fundraising arm, the Irshad Trust, one of the managing trustees of which is Abdolhossein Moezi, an Iranian cleric and a p e rsonal representative of Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the Iranian supreme religious leader. Among the choice tidbits of hatred taught at this shiah madrassas are the following :

they wanted to kill their fellow British citizens because of religion .

The British are now realizing that these young men frequented

'The water left over in the container after any type of animal has drunk from it is considered clean and pure apart from the left over of a dog, a pig, and a disbeliever'

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'When a dog, a pig, or a disbeliever touches or comes in contact with the clothes or body [of a Muslim] while he [the disbeliever] is wet, it becomes obligatory- compulsory upon him [the Muslim] to wash and clean that part which came in contact with the disbeliever'

elder telling me that the meat that is slaughtered by Muslims du ring the Hari Raya Haj i or Hari Raya Korban or Hari Raya Aidi l Adha or Festival of Sacrifice can not be shared with the non Muslim poor. lt is only reserved for the Muslim poor.

There is an erroneous belief that disbelievers are physically unclean. The facts show q uite the opposite - many of the lslamic countri es suffer u n hygienic l iving conditions, suffer high infant mortalities and vector borne d i seases . 1 have p rovi ded a n oth e r exa m p l e and discussed this 'disbelievers are d irty' paranoia i n Chapter 8 Fail u re Written i n Stone.

A friend who converted to Islam recalls when he sacrificed a cow for

th e Hari Raya Haj i . He was told that he could not share any of the m eat with his own non Muslim relatives. Stuck with a lot of meat and no Mu slim relatives he ended u p just giving it away to people standing next to h im .

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But the hate mongers a re actually j ust another symptom of a losing system . The real p roblem is that thei r cu rrent u nderstanding of ' religion' is not going to deliver wealth , health or happiness to the Muslims in any large and predictable q uantity now or anytime in the future. This is j ust not going to happen . Without critically questioning and overhauling their religion, the M uslims will contin ue tripping up. This means that the religious hate mongers will continue to find ready l isteners and 'martyrs' for a long time to come. There will be more s uicide bombers yet to be born . 1 have read and re read the Q u ran and really for the l ife of me 1 just cannot detect all this superiority complex and hatred which seems to be the staple of the priests of religion . For example the Quran says that we should feed the poor and the Quran castigates anyone who is harsh enough to say they do not have to feed the poor.

(Surah 107 : 2 3] "The one who treats the orphan with harshness, And does not urgefeeding the poor" -

1 cannot find it anywhere i n the Quran where M uslims are told that they should only feed the Muslim poor and do not have to feed the non M uslim poor. A hungry man is a hungry man - no matter what is his religion. Yet 1 was q u ite shocked to hear a very dear friend and

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Every year hundreds o f thousands o f sheep, camels and cows are slaughtered i n Mecca d u ring the Hari Raya Korban. I n the old days a lot of this meat would j ust rot and become wasted. Now after the advent of the petrodollars the Saudis make attempts to collect the meat, can it in factories and then ship it out to poor countries as food aid. But again you g uessed it, this canned sacrificial meat is sent to the lslamic countries. Again 1 can not find this type of prejudice against the non Muslim poor stated anywhere i n the Quran. But when we do things l i ke this, not only does it heighten prejudices against the non Muslim but it does not earn us any g reat friendships from the non Muslims either. lf the non Muslims think that we are prejudiced and do not like us - can we rea l ly blame them then ? We do not eve n share left over meat with poor non Muslims. l magine a hungry non Muslim man standing and watching meat being slaughtered and then being told that he cannot be given any portion of the meat because he is a non Muslim. d These types of behaviour which many M uslims take for g ranted an do as part of their everyday lives cannot be found i n the Quran. lt seems that their whole way of l ife is j ust a constant stream of showing dislikes and hatred towards others especially non Muslims and th � thi ngs that other people do. lt is hate, hate and more hate. What a terrible fate.

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The Peri l s of lslam ic Obscu rantism

One non Muslim observer (Dr. B Suseelan) has written a comment about Muslims on the I nternet which 1 thought is worth mentioning here. 1 really do not know much of this D r. S useelan but 1 thought his comments are noteworthy. The writer provides his observation about why the Muslims are i n the present p redicament. D r. Suseela n's comments are i n italics. He likens M uslims to a bug crawling on a glass window pane and seeing the garden flowers and trees and th e clear light of day th rough the glass. The window is actually partially open at the bottom and the bug can easily crawl down and escape i nto the garden . The bug really wanted to fly out into the beautiful garden but instead the bug only moved around the periphery of the section to which it had become attached. Then it would crawl diagonally, fly in desperation only to crash against the deceptive transparency of the glass. The bug was obviously a prisoner of his frame of reference, or probably his Zack offrame of reference. lffreedom was his object, an escape passage was readily accessible at the bottom of the window. But not able to question his instinct and bereft of reason, his behavior became blinded to his real options. He ended up in frustration, Jury and futility. Just like. the bug the Muslims are caught up in the limitations of their own frame of reference. The Muslims are squandering resources in wealth, manpower and human energy in a misguided quest for Islamic development, Islamic power, Islamic influence and maybe Islamic conquest.

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re lati ons, lslamic political thought and lslamic political systems' (pg. 1 50- 1 5 1 ) . D r. Suseelan contin ues :

If Muslims want to succeed in anything useful, determine new directions and new dimensions and if they want to influence the world and restore their glory they need urgently to reexamine their religion.

For example are all their religious beliefs Quran compliant ? This is so mething they should really explore and satisfy themselves. D r. Su sE�elan notes that regardless of how much blood is spilled in the Middle East and the relentlessfighting in Israel, Lebanon, Iraq, Pakistan and India, : Muslims are not able to dramatically change the world. The Muslim hatred of democracy, pluralism, religious tolerance, co-existence andfreedom of expression still continues unabated. The battle between the rigid, closed and dogmatic ideology of religion and unfettered thinking is by no means decided but its outcome will determine whether Muslims will embrace freedom, democracy, pluralism, coexistence, progress and tolerance or succumb to non-compromising fundamentalism, conflict and relentless war against the civilized world. The incessant rage, hostility and violence of the dejected Muslims will further destabilize the entire world.

They want to rei nvent the wheel and call it the lslamic wheel. 1 have mentioned that in his book ' Crisis in the Muslim Mind' Dr AbdulHamid A b u S u l a y m a n e v e n tal ks a b o u t l s l a m i c e co n o m i cs , l s l a m i c com m u n icatio n s , l s l a m i c social sciences , l s l a m i c i nternational

D r. S useelan further notes that almost all the lslamic countries from Algeria to Yemen have either dynastic rulers or military d iCtatorships. Saudi Arabia, Pakistan , Jordan, Syria, Morocco, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, I ran, Muscat and Oman , Bah rain , Sudan and Libya have va ried h i storical experience with tyranny, brutality and persecution of m inorities. I n the vast majority of lslamic nations, citizens are barred from the political or democratic process. Compared to the non lslamic countries, freedom of expression, political assembly, open debate and rel i gious tolerance are nowhere in the lslamic cou ntries. I n

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Malaysia if you are a Syiah or if you do not accept the mainstream sunni version of religion then you can be jailed under the syari ah law.

T his means guaranteei n g freedom of speec h . This is where the Muslims fail m iserably. D r. Suseelan continues :

Whether it is a d i ctato r o r dynasty, m i l itary or M u l l a h reg i m e, persecutio n , torture and execution are frequent i n many lslamic countries. In Saudi Arabia offenders are beheaded i n public on Friday. Two lslamic cou ntries l raq and I ran killed more than a million people d u ring their war. D r. Suseelan continues: For the last fifty years Arab Muslims have made no notable inventions or discoveries in science, medicine and technology or in humanities. Islamic fundamentalists still oppress women, and place restrictions on art, literature, philosophy and discussion. No Islamic nation other than Turkey has taken the path of secularism, rationalism, democracy, pluralism and human rights. From Morocco to Malays ia, Muslims follow dogmatism, fundamentalism and religious intolerance.

Obviously the M uslims cannot last. Correction - they have already fai l e d . That i s why we see lslamic cou ntries all ove r the world imploding and falling down . Muslims must accept the fact that they are fai l u res. And they will never ever succeed u nless they escape from the closed and dogmatic ideology and learn to tolerate, accept and genu inely respect those who differ from them.

Their vision of the world and other religions is fragmented, distorted and their approach to problems is misguided. Because oftheir narrow mindedness and simplisticframework ofthe world they mistrust the rest of the world and mistrust rational, open and democratic concepts and ideas. The closed paradigm of orthodoxy and interpreting matters on the rigid, narrow-minded, bigoted and dogmatic term are the main reasons for the present crisis, violence and backwardness in which the Muslims are stuck.

Looki n g Toward the Future

Dr Suseelan , a non Muslim observer offers hope for the Muslims. In the changing context of modern technology and pluralism, Muslims cannot survive in a closed system. They have to interpret, analyze, e;;a mine and accept the social, political, cultural, scientific and technological developments taking place around the world. Islamic society should undergo a planned change and leam to coexist with non-believers and accept rational and free expression of ideas.

Muslims must listen to all views. I n order to l isten to all views the Muslims m ust first of all make it conducive for all views to be heard .

Islamic scholars, thinkers, political leaders and media persons have an immense opportunity, responsibility and obligation to generate new knowledge, ideas and strategies based upon a rigorous and disciplined assessment of the crisis they have been infor a thousand years. Islam needs a reformation and Muslims must embrace change, democracy, pluralism, coexistence, religious tolerance and freedom of expression. Creative and systemic problem solving strategies should reduce the possibility offuture crisis and conflict with the civilized world. Introduction of humanism, secularism and creative thinking can be an instrument for reform and reformation in the Islamic world.

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Even without D r. Suseelan's common sense observation the Quran has already shown Muslims the way : 'They listen to all views then follow the best. These are the one 's who are guided by God, they are those who ha ve intelligence" Surah

39: 1 8.

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That is D r Suseelan's view. Can the Muslims do this ? My sh o rt answer : NO. lt is my view that the Muslims will be stuck in th ei r ' present rut for a very long time to come. lt is my firm belief that th e vast majority of Muslims will not be able or allowed to question th e ir beliefs or to question their scholars. The Muslims know this. B ut somehow like a runaway train h u rtling down the tracks towards th e cliff, they j ust cannot turn back. They will continue to follow th ei r scholars blindly. Thus are they doomed.

may th i n k that they are still guided. According to the Quran when

pe op le forget God, the Satan becomes their companion. The Satan w ill tt1e n make them thi n k that they are still g uided. Surah 43:36-37] And whoever turns himself away from the remembrance of the Beneficent God, We appointfor him a Satan, so he becomes his associate. And most surely they turn them away from the path, and they think that they are guided aright:

A solution for the Muslim crisis can be found. lt is safely tucked away i n the Quran. But the journey to the solution must begi n with the acknowledgement that they have a serious p roblem . They must acknowledge that this p roblem is from within thei r religion and not from without. What they need is a fundamental change in thinking about their religion, perception and val ues. A complete overhaul of their religion.

The never ending crisis and despondency we witness in the Middle East, Afghan istan, Pakistan , I ran, l raq and other lslamic cou ntries is due to misinterpretation of the truth , distorting the Quranic message, ignori n g the real ity of thei r total collapse and a s i m p l i stic and unworkable problem solving model advocated by the religious folks.

1 would like the reader to know that if there is real freedom of speech

hu ma n bein g . In other words God has made l ife easy. Here is the refere nce:

in Malaysia many people (including me of cou rse) will gladly and openly discuss how this overhaul of the religion can be done. But there is no real freedom of speech i n Malaysia, especially about Islam. Simple individuals like me can be easily p rosecuted under a variety of 'religious' excuses. Under the threat of such undue attention 1 don't see any g reat motivatiosn to publicly depart with my real thoug hts when there are people who may be tempted to prosecute me and th row me in j a i l for expressi n g those same tho u ghts. lt almost happened to me once before. But perhaps a verse from the Quran will g ive a h int :

I n the Quran , which the Muslims claim is their "holy" book, God tells them that H e did not reveal the Quran to cause any hardsh ip for the

"We did not reveal this Quran to you to cause you any hardship " Surah 20:2.

This is where the M uslims m iss the whole point of l iving. They do not know how to make l ife easy for themselves or for other people. They are constantly tying themselves i nto knots over many illogical beliefs which are not from God or the Q u ran. As 1 said before, the M uslims l i ke to make thei r lives difficu lt. The West has made 'making l ife easy' the very reason for its existence. That is why the West is so successful.

l ndeed the Satan promises people poverty. lf a people are m i red in poverty for generations and centuries, isn't it sufficient evidence that they have been misled by the Satan ? But u nfortunately some people

At this point 1 would like to th row some light on the confusion about sec ularis m , western ization and modern izatio n . Secularism is a Christian ward frequently used nowadays by the religious fol ks as an abusive labe! to condemn people they don't like as ungodly. To them their own religions are godly and therefore everything they do is according to divine i nstruction. According to them secular is therefore somethi ng that is u ngodly, something that is devoid of this divine

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Surah 2: 268 " The Satan promises you poverty and enjoins you to be niggardly, and God promises you forgiveness from Himself and abundance; and God is Ample-giving, Knowing. "

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interventi on. But in Malays ia the Shiah rel igion for examp le is ba nn under th reat of prosec ution. S hiahs can be jailed i n Malay e d s Logica lly then Shiahs are 'ungod ly' in Malaysia. Therefore tech n ia . ica lly Shiaism can be gathered under the 'secula r' banne r in Malaysia .B the Shiah Repub lic of I ran would consid er itself very godly an ut d th e rest of the world as not godly. I n other words the Shiah Repub lic I ran could be godly but the rest of the world can be secula r. So of on person 's godlin ess could be anothe r person 's secula rism. Wh ic e h is which ? This is confus ing. There is also much confus ion over weste rnizati on . The West h not weste rnized but the West has mode rnized . There is a as b differe nce betwe en being weste rn and being moder n. And not ig weste rn countr ies are equall y mode rnized . All Weste rn coun all trie stil l posse ss thei r weste rn cultures which makes them west s ern. Festiv als like the tomato throw ing 'tamat ina' in ltaly or throwi ng a live goat from a tower also in ltaly, the runnin g of the bulls i n Pamp lon a in Spain are examp les of Weste rn culture and traditio n . Mode rnis atio n on the other hand is the extens ive use of logic, science and techno logy in our daily lives. Moder nisatio n has nothin g to do with weste rn cultu re. The Japan ese have thorou ghly mode rnized and so have the Korea ns but they have not really weste rnized . The mode rn Asian electr ic rice cooke r is a Japan ese i nventi on using mode rn techno logy to help Asian s cook rice. Simila rly the Korea ns have develo ped a specia l refrige rator to store kimchi or Korea n pickle d vegeta bles. This is using mode rn techno logy to prese rve an essen tial part of Asian , Japan ese and Korea n culture . lt is not weste rnizati on . lt is moder nisatio n. From my own observation China is a count ry whose peopl e are quite definit ely not weste rn. ButCh ina is progressing by leaps and bound s by applyi ng moder n scienc e and techno logy in an almest compl etely market orient ed econo my. And more i mportantly, just like the West, they have almest compl etely got rid of debilit ating religio n. They are definit ely trying their best (and doing it quite successfully too) to make life easier for their people . And the results are drama tic. According to the World Bank by 2005 China , with a population of 1 . 3 billion people , has becom e the fourth larges t econo my i n the world with a 122

I n just �O 22 tri llion (Chi na Daily 4/7/06i). engage� m 40% of the Chinese economy s This gallo pm g

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t e rod uctio n of goo ds. rna n u 'f a ct u n n g a de g ree of applying mode rni �ati ? n , advan ce me nt of C i a d e to the e 1 ng rid of their religi on. Wester r nsat1o n scie nce an d techn olo gy an d. g tf . China. h as little or no role to play m . Chin a dem ocratic lndia's 1 .0 billio n Ju st for co mpa r. son l l n of o �tput in 2005 - abo ut a third ou t peop le ch ur . p ite 60 years of indep ende nce only 1 5 % of th e out � ut o h ma. Des . lved in the man ufacture of hard g.o ?ds. th e In dia n eco nomy I� invo still hobb led by ridic ulou s rellg 1ous Uke t h e um mah, l nd1a oo is poverty and backwardness . bel i efs an ? cu ltu res t � n l rom ote h r e ilitati ng religio ns canc els out or slows Th e ne gative e e�t tech nology. l ndia need s �o down th e ben � 1c1a ffec of. scen ce and scie nce m two parts - applying . l earn f ro m Chin a. Success com es ·1 n . t1ces prac 1 1 and getti ng rid of fooli sh rellg 1ous 1a rge qua nt't'es . . thou roug hfare s, the most Ch ine se ci�ie� are be1n g 1 � 1d ou "th h uge plication of the most sop histicated rnodem bu1l dmgs and th � msta borrowed from all c ity man ag eme nt tech r n es evel oped loca lly or ially ope ration � I merc first com over the world . Hen c � e .world's no whe els 1s has rn ag netic le.vitati � n tram � h1ch flo s n air and . G rmany Chin ese monks are b e in g bui �t m Ch m � by S1e � en mana geme nt to m? re now earn mg M BAs m marketin nd. busin ess sand s of histo ncal effective ly man a� e tour ists w v "t the thou Chin a has got the e. ther nd tern ples and � h n nes thi:it can e in auto mob ile ers G e r m an A u d i . an d Vol kswa en � wor ld lead turing plan ts in the tech nolo gy, to mvest RM2 5 llio i n man ufac the most practical coun try. Chin a only wants t h e 1 at e st ' the best and for its peop le. . . e too and to do . . The trick now is for the lslam 1 � countries to mod erniz coun tries to ic lslam it as fast as they c� n . The re is no n eed for the nce in very scie 'Western ise' . Th ey 1 ust have to se �e on� lo ic and u tri s have little cho ice but vast quan tities . And here the ls a ·1 na . Poli tica l ly, soci ally and to emu late t h e Wes t o r eve n

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economically the success of the modern West is based on ma kin g life easy for its people. Politically everyone has the right to speak hence making democracy a successful and frighteningly (for thos e outside the West) robust institution in the West I n Western society everyone has the freedom of faith . Hence there is little chance for the priests to mess up peoples' lives. Consequently there are few or no religious conflicts in the West. The freedom to pursue happiness and the freedom to pursue wealth means the West is constantly innovating and using its mind to 'build a better mousetrap' to be sold in the market. Bill Gates became the richest man on the earth because he produces a computer program that makes life much easier. Writing this book for example is a breeze for me because of the Windows software produced by Bill Gates' Microsoft Corporation. Sam Walton was also the richest man in the world once because he made life easier for millions of Americans who bought quality goods at his supermarkets.

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On the other hand the richest 'Muslims' i n the world include the Saud clan which monopolises the oil revenue in Saudi Arabia and the Sheikhs of Kuwait who monopolise oil revenue in Kuwait. They did not get rich by making l ife easy for their fellow human beings but by denying others, especially their own countrymen, equal access to the same wealth . I n Malaysia D r Mahathir's logic wanted to create instant bumiputra (Musli m) billionaires by loading selected individuals with G ove r n m e n t g ranted monopolies. The h a n dfu l of these billionaires made more headlines marrying extra wives or hanging out with starlets than by producing world class products and services. Not surprisingly not even one of them is around anymore. They only thought about making life easy for themselves - they did not make life as easy for others. So they have disappeared. But the lslamic world seems to have built up a tolerance for such despotic wealth because the lslamic world has also been confused into believing the role of the 'Khalifah' or Caliph as ruler. The priests have brainwashed the lslamic world i nto subconsciously waiting for the retu rn of the old Caliphate where the Caliph would rule the realm. Actually the rulers of Saudi Arabia, the Sheikhs of Kuwait and the 124

behav ing like th� old dictato rsh ips i n the Arab countr ies are already _ c al i phs. lt we study lslamic history the old Cahph s were _ more llkely ral death . Lets listen to D r to get m u rdered than to die a natu A bd ul Hamid AbuSu layma n again (from his book ' Crisis in the Muslim Mind' ) about the Caliph s of yore : "Th e first sign of the Ummah 's emerging crisis was the fitnah (infighting) which broke out in a series ofdestructive civil wars within the ls/a,mic state. The third khalifah (caliph) 'Uthman ihn 'Affan, was martyred during these wars, as was his successor 'A li ihn Abi Talib. Eventually the khilafah (Caliphate) came to an end and was replaced by the profligacy despotism, and tribalism ofthe new rulers ofthe Ummah the Umayyah royalty" (pg 23).

d so th e Caliph s were murde red. AbdulH amid says they were replace that here g anythin there ls . m by a proflig acy, despo tism and tribalis st we all do not know already ? This is still happe ning everyday among m tribalis and tism all the so called l slamic countr ies. Proflig acy, despo are the stock in trade of most if not all the rulers in the lslamic countr ies ies until today. Proflig acy means wastin g money. The rich Arab countr the doubt, t withou So . money g wastin in are indeed world champ ions lslami c countr ies are still carryin g on with the old traditio ns that preced ed them . Bloods hed , cruelty, power strugg les, hoardi ng wealth , palace i ntrigue and schism s seem to have been the forte of the old Caliph ates.� This is not much differe nt from what happe ns today among the despotic rulers of the ' lslamic countr ies' . So the ummah need not hurry to replicate the rule of the old Caliph s anymo re. lt is already here. But unfortu nately there is more confus ion. Dr AbdulH amid continu es: "The infighting that ultimately resulted in thefall ofthe khilafah is such an important event in the history of the Ummah that it should not be passed over until we have gained a correct understllnding of it, ofwhat caused it, and ofwhat it engendered.

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We need this information because the events of this period continue, even in our own day, to influence the ummah 's behaviour".

really beg to differ with D r Abdul Hamid here. There is absolu tely no benefit at all for the ummah to waste even more time trying to co rrectly understand what happened in this Caliph's plotting or that Calip h 's scheming of a thousand years a g o. lf, according to D r AbdulH am id even after 1 , 400 years the um mah has not "gained a correc t understan ding of it", then please lets not waste another 1,0 00 years trying to sort out the reasons why what happened or who kill ed whom a thousand years ago. We will never know. Lets drop the tribulations of the Caliphs, wish them well and move on with our own lives. lf the West is going to colonise us again over the next 50 years or place really cheap 3G , 4G or 5G telecommunications tools in the hands of even their schoolchildren we need to be part of the process because it is going to accelerate change at an even faster pace. Sorting out the 1000 year old power struggles among the ancient Caliphs has nothing to do with the realities of life anymore. Lets just drop the subject. Lets move on . 1

As an interesting side note to this affair of the old Caliphate - Muslim s the world over accept that the last of the great lslamic Caliphates was the Ottoman Empire of the Turks or the ' Khilafah Al Uthmaniyah ' which is believed to have been established in 128 1 A D by the Turkish warlord Othman Bey. The Ottoman Caliphate finally expired 645 years later in 1926 when the great Turk and lslamic leader M ustafa Kamal Ataturk announced its abolishment. I n 1 9 14 when the First World War broke out the Khilafah Al Uthmaniyah decided to th row in its lot with Germany and Austria-H ungary on one side against Russia, France, Britain and the U nited States on the other side. This was a gamble that seriously went wrong for the Khilafah Al Uthmaniyah. Of cou rse the Germans lost the war and the Ottoman Caliphate was dismembered by the victors. I n a last ditch desperate attempt to gain the support of the ummah all over the world, Sultan Mehmet V as the Khalifah of the Khilafah Al Uthmaniyah formally declared a jihad or 126

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h oly war on 23 November 19 14 against the British, Russians and th e Fren ch (the US would only enter the war much later) . This was pe rh aps the last call to jihad issued by a Khalifah of an ancient lslamic Ca lip hate. Predictably few Turks took notice and Muslims outside Tu rkey did not even know of this last 'Call To Jihad' by an authentic Kh ali·fah from an ancient lslamic CaUphate. No one bothered to answer hi s call to J ihad (see 'Ataturk' by Andrew Mango) . Yet many confused so u ls - some of whom 1 have met on the I nternet - still want to re estab lish the old system of the Khilafah. Out of total helplessness th ey do not know what they are saying. I n brief Muslims still make a career out of making life more difficult for themselves. They do not make life easy. Yet many of them think

that they are being good M uslims and pleasing God i n the process. They actually . deserve what they get because it is they who make their �ives so difficult. Perhaps they have a sense of humou r after all . At thi s point 1 would like t o speak about the supremacy of the West again. Some of the proverbial horses i ndeed have to be thoroughly beatem until they are truly dead. One of these horses that has to be killed is the misconception or confusion over the 'leaders h i p of the ulema' . I n Malaysia the religion based political parties frequently try to s ell the idea of 'pimpinan ulamak'or leadership of the ulema. Among the religious folks the term ulem a l'las become a generic description meaning p ractitionets or priests of religion. This is an i ncorrect understanding of the term ulema. Ulem a is derived from the root word ' ilm (ilmu) which rneans knowledge. And of course the Greek word fdr knowledge is 'science': the word ulem a is the plural of the word alim which means 'knowledgeable' - pertainirig to people. An s/lm is o n e k n ow l ed g e a b l e p e rs o n , ulem a m e a n s m a n y knowledgeable persons. That i s all. l3ut knowledgeable i n what ? This is where the confusion starts with the religious scholars. The scholars say that they are the ulema because in their reckoning ulema means those who are expert i n religion - like them.

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Again what the rel igious scholars say is very d ifferent from what th e Quran says about the ulema. The Quran says:

'Do you not see that God sends down water from the sky to produce fruits of various colours ? The mountains show white and red streaks of different shades, and the ravens are black. Also the people, the animals and the livestock are of different colours. That is why the servants of God who truly reverence Him are the knowledgeable (ULEMA). God is almighty' forgiving' Surah 35 : 27-28. Clearly here God is talking about H is creation which we call Nature. The verse starts with 'Do you not see . . ' . l ndeed we have to see and observe what God has created and provided for us. This is scientific observation. We have to observe and study the water that God sends down from the sky to make our plants grow and bear fruits of different colours, we have to study and appreciate the geology of the rocks and the mountains, the colours of the birds, the different types of peop le, an � mals and livestock. This is scientific observation . Obviously . asking us to observe and understand all of His Creation through God 1s science. Acco rd i n g to the Q u ran these are the ulem a or the knowledgeable people. A� one time circa 1994 when 1 was stil l searching for the truth , my fnends and 1 thought that the verse 1 have quoted above about ''the mountai n s show wh ite and red streaks of d i fferent shades"

referred to Mount Sinai or Jebel M usa. We u ndertook a trip to the Sinai Desert in Egypt and climbed Mount Sinai. We stayed at the Monastery of Saint Catherine - built about 1,600 years ago and still the oldest functioning monastery i n C h ristendom . We did see red and white streaks on the mountain rocks. But you can also see plenty of red and white streaks on our limestone cliffs in the Kinta Valley and i n G u a M usan g . The red coloration is caused by the oxidation of i ron and other oxides in the reck. This is the realm of the science of geology. There were also many Ch ristian pilgrims trom Germany who came to Mount Sinai to chant and pray. They believe that God spoke to Moses on that particular mountain. The climb u p 128

th e m ou ntain was not wasted . The mou ntain vista d u ring sunrise and sunset was fantastic. trem endo us bene fits from B ut the fact is the Wes t h as de rived s creations . lt is calle d o bserv ing and u nderstan ding all of God' ed the cycle of rain , the Scien ce or 'ilmu. Western 'ilm has studi wow in the seil , the atmo sphe re, the cloud s i n the sky, the plants that h u man body and a the , anim als, the geolo gy of rocks and moun tains tific obse rvatio ns millio n other thing s. By maki ng these caref ul scien is today. They do not the West has beco me the supr emacy that it s and the religi ous teach geolo gy or hydro logy at the m ad rassa schoo ls. word for the religi ous But the Qura n does have anoth er very spec ific n calls the � clergyme n. lt is defin itely not u/ema. lnste ad the Qura n . Here 1s Qura i n the habar. This word habar appe ars fou r times just one examp le :

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who believe, many priests (habar) and monks cheat the people out of their money, and divert them from the path of God. Those who hoard gokl and silver, and spend it not in the cause of God, promise them a painful retribution ' Surah 9:34.

theY teach is not found i n the Q u ran at al l . That is why 1 keep saying that religion and Islam are not the same. Islam is a deen or a way of life based on science and reason whereas religion has so many illogical shades and flavours.

So it is such an i ronical truth that it is indeed the West that is prosperin g under the leadership of the real u/em a (pimpinan ulama k) or th e leadership of those who are knowledgeable. l ndeed the West run s almost enti rely on 'ilm or knowledge. On the other hand the lsl am ic countries are often shackled by the ideas of the habar or the priests of religion who run on hot air.

An d in deed it is the religious scholars who are the real liberals - not me. Let me explain why. I n this book 1 have reproduced enough com m ents and provided enough references recording the real ly mi ndb oggling and u n believable d ivergences and differences i n the inte rp retat ions and implementation of religion that is practiced by the h un d reds of shades of rel igious sects. They all claim to be Islam but they are all so different. ! have also recorded in this book the violence, hatred and killing that is still going on ir;i the world between the various se cts all clai m i n g to belang to the ummah. They are all at odds with eact1 other and hating each other because each sect has very liberally inte rp reted its own flavour of religion according to its own whims and fancies .

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I n April 2006 , while 1 was writing this book 1 was i nterviewed by a young woman clai ming to be writing a thesis i n lslamic Studies at the U n iversity of Malaya. 1 was flattered (for a whi le) to find out that my earlier writings as a newspaper colu m nist were the subject of h er thesis along with that of the other Malaysian writer Farish Noor. Her thesis was titled 'Liberal Islam in Malaysia : lssues raised by Farish Noor and Syed Akbar Ali'. But my exhuberance41 was dampened by the fact that 1 had been labeled a 'liberal' by her teachers. ·

This type of labeling - especially negative labeling - is a favorite tool of the religious fraternity. Name calling and trying to stigmatise people with whom they may not agree is among their tools of the trade. As 1 have said before they j ust love to attach negative labels. And just l i ke their confusion about who really is an u/em a they are also confused by labeling me a 'liberal'. Just for the record 1 would like to declare that 1 am a hardcore, conservative , fundamentalist Muslim . And this is what 1 told the young woman from the U n iversity. We have no choice but to retu rn to the hardcore fundamentals of Islam that are carefully preserved i n the Quran. The Quran is almost entirely different from what is preached by the rel igious scholars. We can see many examples of this throughout this book. Too too often what

41

1 rep roduce here a speech by our former Prime M i n ister Tu n D r

Mahath ir Mohamad touch ing on t h e differences o f opinion between the religious scholars. Mahath i r U rges Scholars to Resolve Muslim Differences KUALA LUMPUR, March 19, 2006 (lslamOnline. net & News Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Agencies) Mohamad urged scholars on Sunday, March 19, to come together to resolve differences among Muslims, mobilize the Muslim world into a usefu1 and unitedforce and help comriiission a be�ter image of Islam. "Muslim scholars or ulama must discuss these issues rationally . and in an in-depth manner to bring the Muslims back under one umbrella, under the religion that was brought to them by the Prophet.

Exhuberance : overflowing 'happiness'

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The fonn er Ma laysian premie r said Islam was currently going through what Christianity had gone through in the pas t. "T hey hav e Protestants, Catho lics , they hav e Orthodox. . . and th e Catholics and Protestants have been known to jight it out in diferen f t small groups. "In the past, they used to kill each other, they used to burn at the stakes because of differen ces of understanding and they tend to condemn others as heretic s, " Mahathir recalled. "But today they are much more liberal . They don 't question eac h other on the interpretation of the reli gion. " He sai d that the fragment ation among Muslims wer e due to difere f nt interpretation ofIsla m. "Today we see Shiites blowing . up Sunm mosques, Sunnis blowing up Shiite mosques, we see a lot ofantagonism between the difere f nt sects and yet they all cla im to be Muslims. "lfyou cla im to be a Muslim, then you sho uld regard every Muslim as you r brother (or sister). But they consider difere f nt sects as not being Isla m. " Mahathir urged Muslim s to return to the fundamental teachings of Islam and elim ina te the difere f nces in interpretation. "In that way I think we can be united, and of course unity is strength, and at the sam e tim e we can utilize the whole potent ial ofthe Muslims. "

D � Ma hat hi r has h it the nai l exactly on the hea d. Th e p rob lem lies wrt h the so ca lled 'sc ho lars' not be ing ab le to res olv e TH EIR differe nce s. Th is is the rea l pro ble m . Th e re is no pro ble m wit h Isla m or the Ou ran . Th e pro ble m is wit h the sch ola rs wh o can not see m to ag ree o n a n yth i n g , wh o a re ca u s i n g so m u c h h atr ed cha os con fus ion , vio len ce, povert y and foo lish nes s am ong the u ma h. ' Th e wo rd libe ral is rooted i n the word libe rty wh ich imp lies 'ex erc isin g fre ed � m'. So the reli gio us sch ola rs are the one s wh o hav e libe rally xe rcrs ed the fre edo m to inte rpret an d pre scr ibe reli gio n as the y see frt. Am ong the S h iah s, the Wa h hab is, the D ruz es the Su fis the Ta ligh is and a tho usa nd oth er sects they all very li e rall y exe cise the rr own way of thi n kin g an d do ing thin gs. An d mo re ofte n than not,

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h at th ey say can not be fou n d in the Q u ran at all . This is solid . p roof of thei r liberty i n i nterpreting thrngs the way i co nt ro vertible n . Thus it is the religious scholars who are the real lrberals t wan theY nd as we have seen above, they are defin itely n ot ulem� me. n e ?it er. 1 also canne to realize this after listening to Tun D r Ma ath1 r an d re ading a few more of his speeches wherein Dr Mahath1 r has re e atedly warned agai nst the problem of mu 1 trp 1 e rn terp r t �t·r ons of . re �li g 1on by the scholars which is causing so m uch d1v1s1on and conf usi on .

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Ab out people who very liberally i n !erpret things and who have a . th ou sand different religious theologres the Quran asks .

'What is wrong with you ? How do you judge ? Do you have another book that you uphold ? One hat gives you anything that you desire ? Or do you have certam pledges from Us to be . fu lfilled on the Day of Resurrection about whatever you decide ? Ask them who guarantees anything for them.' Surah 68 : 36 - 40.

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So to the people who so l iberally i nterpret and practice their religion in the so many divergent ways and sects - we have to ask them , who guarantees anything for the� ? Do t ey have an Y uarantees fro . God that what they have so lrberally 1 nterpreted _rs rnde d correct . or do they have other books which j ustify for them anythrng that th y desi re ? How do they judge ? Wh t is �rong wit them ? her d1d _ their behefs and rnterpretatrons they learn to be so liberal wrth .

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lt is clear that those religious scholars who uphold a tho usand different . supposed to interpretations are the real liberals. And the u m mah rs listen to them . They must stop being so liberal and return to the fundamentals of the Quran.

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1 . have al ready mentioned the book ' E nvisioning A E mpowered Nation' by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam - the President of ! ndra a d a great scientist - wherein Kalam touts the I ndian technologrcal achrevem nt. APJ Abdul Kalam's point about technology for societal transformat1on 133

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is valid but has d ifferent effects on different societies. Tech nol ogy as a tool for completely transformi n g society has had g reater posit ive i mpact on China than i n l ndia. Tech nology alone O ust l i ke edu cati on alone) cannot ful ly benefit a society. APJ Abdul Kalam has written ab � ut technology to build rockets and hyperplanes. But even if l n di a bu1lds hyperplanes how many of l ndia's 1 . 08 billion populat io n Will benefit from a hyperplane ? I n the case of l ndia techn ology has acted like a pump to pu mp o ut water from a leakin g ship. lf the rate of water being pump ed o ut is more than the rate of water leakin g i n , then the ship will float. Th e pump works but it is more i mport ant that the leak be plugg ed also. The leak is religio n. E u rope had to get rid of exces sive rel igi on to g ive birt � to the Re � aiss�n ? e. The Renai ssanc e was the pum p . . Gettin g nd of exces s1ve rehg1o n was pluggi ng the leak. According to the Wikipedia "The Renaissance, also known as "II Rinascimento " (in Italian), was an influential cultural movement which brought about a period of scientific revolution, religious reform and artistic transformation, at the dawn of modern European history. lt marks the transitional period between the end of the Middle Ages and the start of the Modern Age. The Renaissance is usually considered to have originated in the J4th century in northern Italy and begun in the late 15th century in northern Europe ".

Throwing Up New Hatreds Against Non Muslims

oth er vital component - you m ust get rid of religion (plug the leak) . s ci e n ce is the pump that pumps out water from the leaki ng ship and saves h u manity but religion is the leak that must be fixed or it wi ll d rown everyone. lt you do not fix the leak, then when the pump b rea ks down or slowsdown the ship will stil l sink. Or if the leak be co m es bigger, the pump wil l be overwhelmed and the ship will ul tim ately sink. I n this regard l ndia is still shackled by excessive re lig ion , superstition and caste beliefs. Despite l ndia claiming to be a secul ar nation, I ndian stockbrokers sti ll place little idols by their com pute r terminals and I ndian engineers invoke the blessing of their id ols up on their trai ns. l ronically even todays more fanatic or extreme religious elements like the Wah habis in Saudi Arabia actually began l ife as religious reformers who tried to red uce religion. Du ri ng the time of a fellow by the name of Abdul Wahab - about two h u ndred years ago in Arabia - the Arabs were lost in upholding too many strange beliefs and rituals which Wahab arg ued were liberal innovations or bid'aa and not part of the religion. Abdu l Wahab successful ly reformed some of these old biel iefs and reduced their practice. H ence today Wah habis do not do certain things l i ke praying at the g raves of saints, celebrating the birthdays of religious personalities including the Prophet and so on. Unfortunately Abdul Wahab's inheritors have become stuck in his time warp. They did not continue reforming. By the 201h century they becatme extremists again - i n need of reform again.

This was essentially an exchange of the old religions like Catholicism and superstitions for science and reason . E u ropeans got fed up of hearing that the earth was flat, the earth was at the center of the universe and that the earth was created 6 , 666 years before their current date.

Eve n the rise of Germany as a great n ation i n the 1 91h and 201h centuries can be attributed to the removal of the power of the Catholic Church and the influence of the priesthood among the Germanic stateis by Napoleon Bonaparte - the g reat French empero r and p erhaps a Muslim.

lt is i mportant to note that for the resu rgence of science and the Renaissance the E u ropeans fi rst had to get rid of religion. Today l ndia and also the lslamic countries are trying to duplicate the success of E u rope and the West but they have o n ly imported E u rope's scienctific method (the pump) without giving sufficient regard to the

According to the Catholic Encyclopedia (www. newadvent.org)

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"The Confederation of the Rhine, formed by Napoleon out of fourteen German States (12 July, 1806), and his assertion of a protectorate over the same, resulted in Francis JJ's abdication of 135

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the title of emperor of Germany; in its place Francis took the title of emperor of Austria. Thus ended, under the blows dealt it by Napoleon, that Holy Roman Germanic Empire which had exe rted so great an influence over Christianity in the Middle Ages. The pope and the German emperor had long been considered as sharing between them the government of the world in the name of God. Napoleon had definitively annihilated one of these "two halves of God ", as Victor Hugo has termed them. "

l ndeed Napoleon has performed a great service for the w hole of modern Europe by g reatly reducing the i nfluence of the Pop e in France, Germany and ltaly. lt was Napoleon who subdued the Pop e in Rome, removed vast tracts of land from the Pope and ke pt the Pope behind the high walls of the Vatican. These lslamic countries which are i nfested with an i nterfering p riesthood must emulate Napoleon. They must keep their interfering priests behind high walls and away from public life.

� hina is a good example of an Asian country that has successfully

1mported both components of the European success story ie getting rid of religion and superstition and introducing science to rebuild their civilization. 1 recall my Chinese friends from Communist China doing postgraduate study in the U nited States in the early 1 980s. When 1 wished them Happy New Year or Gong Xi Fi Cai they expressed surprise and said those were old superstitions of the old days and that they did not believe in such superstitions anymore. They had great faith in science and technology and faith in themselves without the baggage of religion or too much debilitating traditions to hold them back. Communism had purified them of their rel igions. ls it any surprise then that 20 years later, those Chinese friends 1 met are making China .i nto the greatest nation on the surface of the earth ? ·

I n the lslamic countries they want to rei nvent science in the lslamic mould complete with the 'spiritual element' . Hence we have weird ideas like lslamic science, lslamic medicine and once upon a time even lslamic English. As 1 have stated, in his book ' Crisis in the Muslim Mind' D r Abu Hamid Abu Sulaymari even talks about lslamic 136

econom ics, l slamic communications, lslamic social scienc� s, lsl� � ic ·nte rn at ional · relations, lslamic political thought and lslam1c poht1cal yste m s' (pg. 1 50- 1 5 1 ) . He did not mention the lslamic wheel.

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the �eligiou s mould � uppo.s� dly T he p urp orted rei nvent ion of things i n . noth1n g spiritu al truth 1s there 1s invo lves the spiritu al eleme nt. The anoth er Biblica l term and it canno t be found in in I sla m . This is just e is going to spiritu ally th e Q ura n . 1 really don't know how anyon tu rboch arg e any thing. spirit. This word is T he wo rd 'spiritu ality' is derived from the word there are no such things as spirits . fo u n cl in the Bible . But i n reality has ever seen a Oth er than Hollywood's 'spirit in a bettle ' no one be spiritu ality spi rit o r comm unicated with one. So how can there ? wh e n no one knows what a spirit is G od is not a spirit. God is the Creat or of the unive rse. His handi work out by itself. is the re for all to see. Our planet earth did not just pop ings said 'there An d as the physic ist and mathe matici an Steph an Hawk prese nce of the deny t canno We . e' is too much order i n the U nivers an Intel l igen t D esig n . So me say that t h e soul is a spirit. Again soul is a Biblical concept. The Quran talks about 'roch' but there is no evidence that the roch of t h e Quran is the same spirit or soul of the Bible. And as for the roch itself the Quran gives clear direction : Surah 1 7:85 "And they ask you-about the rooh. Say: The rooh is one of the commands of my Lord, and you are not given any knowledge of it but a little ".

So even if anyone asks about the roch, this is what the Quran commands us to say, basically·that we do not know much about the roch . End of story. lt also makes the eminent suggestion that high falutin philosophizing about 'spirituality' may have been derived from the 'bottled spirits' .

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For the more excitable reader let me assu re you that 'anti religio n' does not mean anti Islam. The two are poles apart. Islam is a 'dee n' or a way of l ife. Islam is not compatible with religion especially organized religion. There cannot be a clergy i n Islam . A true Muslim is answerable to God. He does not answer to any clergy. He prays to His God for help, g uidance, to give thanks and so on. He does not need the i ntermediary öf a priest. But u nfortunately this simplicity of Islam has changed over the centu ries. I n Syiah I ran there is a full blown priesthood . And u nfortunately i n other lslamic countries the idea of a religious priesthood is catching on fast too. Often the religion based political parties are at the forefront of promoting the leadership of the rel igious priests. This is a sure recipe for disaster. The Muslim must leave oft excessive religion and get closer to Islam . Can the Muslims do this ? The pictu re below shows S hiah and Sunni leaders glari n g at each other across the negotiating table i n l raq. They are stil l m u rdering each other because of religion - not because of Islam.

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